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Commencement Program Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Commencement Ceremony Yale University Sunday, May 23, 2021 Order of Exercises commencement ceremony Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Sunday, May 23, 2021 Academic Procession Peter Salovey Michelle Nearon University President Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Student Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology Development and Diversity Lynn Cooley Allegra di Bonaventura Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean for Graduate Student Academic Vice Provost for Postdoctoral Afairs Support C.N.H Long Professor of Genetics, Professor of Cell Ann Gaylin Biology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Associate Dean for Graduate Education Biology Lisa Brandes Akiko Iwasaki Assistant Dean for Student Life Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Danica Tisdale Fisher and Professor of Epidemiology Assistant Dean of Diversity Gary Brudvig Lucylle Armentano ’21 PhD in Psychology Benjamin Silliman Professor of Chemistry Student Marshal Kelly Shue Stephen Gaughran ’21 PhD in Ecology and Professor of Finance Evolutionary Biology Student Marshal Sharon Kugler University Chaplain Pamela Schirmeister Deputy Dean and Dean of Strategic Initiatives commencement ceremony Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Sunday, May 23, 2021 Greetings Lynn Cooley Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Vice Provost for Postdoctoral Afairs C.N.H Long Professor of Genetics, Professor of Cell Biology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology President’s Remarks Peter Salovey University President Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology Introduction of the Keynote Speaker Lynn Cooley Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Vice Provost for Postdoctoral Afairs C.N.H Long Professor of Genetics, Professor of Cell Biology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Keynote Address Akiko Iwasaki Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, and Professor of Epidemiology Presentation of Candidates for Degrees Lynn Cooley Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Vice Provost for Postdoctoral Afairs C.N.H Long Professor of Genetics, Professor of Cell Biology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Peter Salovey University President Closing Remarks Lynn Cooley Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Vice Provost for Postdoctoral Afairs C.N.H Long Professor of Genetics, Professor of Cell Biology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Benediction Sharon Kugler University Chaplain graduate mentor awards This year, for the twenty-second time, the Graduate School honors faculty members for their exemplary qualities as mentors. Many dissertation advisers were nominated, and the honorees were chosen by a committee of students and faculty. All letters of nomination were anonymous. The text below represents comments (edited for brevity) from student nominations. In the Humanities JennIFer raaB Associate Professor in the History of Art Professor Raab is the best educator I have had at Yale. She is a phenomenal advisor whose care, attention, and rigor in mentorship has been crucial to my academic success, and to my development as a writer. She is also a fantastic human being whose humility, fairness, and honesty has modeled the way for me in my own life. Despite being an incredibly busy academic whose path on the tenure track is no doubt freighted with tremendous responsibilities, Professor Raab is generous with her time. She takes the efort to diagnose the root causes of any shortcomings in a student’s work, and her willingness to not shy away from even-handed criticism makes her stand out in our department. Jenny will not commend a student at the expense of the quality of their work, but she also always gives praise and encouragement when it is due. Professor Raab’s academic advice, which carries lessons of the importance of humility and vulnerability, has served me well in both work and life. Her outspoken support for both the professional and personal wellbeing of her students – and the balance between the two – is admirable in a program that is highly demanding. In an era of both performative busyness and burnout, she sets an exemplary standard for future generations of young academics, who will, as she does, work to ensure that their departments and their students have healthy priorities and sustainable communities. I have taken her words to heart and am much better of as a scholar and a human being for it. In the Natural Sciences garY BrudVIg Benjamin Silliman Professor of Chemistry Gary’s strongest impact on me was afer my advisor Charlie Schmuttenmaer’s sudden passing in 2020. Despite his loss of a close collaborator and friend, Gary immediately reassured our group of four graduate students and one postdoc and assumed the role of advisor for all of us, allowing us to stay together and keep our research facilities operating, until the fnal graduate student graduates in a few years. As we all know, being an advisor is not easy work. Taking on a postdoc and four graduate students without a thought exemplifes Gary’s character and we are deeply grateful to him. Charlie and Gary worked together for many years and were close friends, so Gary wanted to ensure Charlie’s legacy would continue. As an advisor, Gary manages to be inspiring and scientifcally challenging without being intimidating or demanding. He allows his mentees to use their time in graduate school to develop as scientists and people in the ways we fnd most valuable. Of course, the chemistry is always the main goal, but Gary also encourages students to spend time taking extra classes, gaining teaching skills, and leading outreach eforts. I think the best way to sum up what makes Gary such a great advisor and mentor is that he allows for each of his students to have the fexibility to follow their own passions. In the Social Sciences KeLLY sHue Professor of Finance I can’t think of anyone more deserving of the Graduate Mentor Award than my dissertation advisor Professor Kelly Shue. Despite her own very active research, she goes above and beyond to support her PhD advisees. She cares deeply about their personal and professional success and does everything she can to help them reach their full potential as scholars. This year has been especially challenging for graduate students. Professor Shue recognized students’ isolation and set aside time with her advisees on Zoom to talk through the individual challenges they were facing and how she could help them make the most of the situation. Kelly was actually pregnant when the COVID-19 lockdown began and was scheduled to be on leave during the Fall 2020 semester. For her advisees, though, it was impossible to tell. She was always available on Zoom to talk through research struggles and ofer advice on how to overcome them. In a year when many academic conferences have been canceled or gone virtual, Professor Shue tried to make up for the lost networking opportunities by connecting students with other faculty members who do work in the same felds. She will go the extra mile for her advisees. When one of us, a young mother, had no quiet space for Zoom meetings, Professor Shue actually ofered her own ofce for the student to use—it was a heartwarming gesture that epitomizes the very best of Yale graduate mentorship. graduate scHooL student The Henry Prentiss Becton Prize for exceptional prIzes achievement in research is awarded to a graduate student within the Council of Engineering. Departmental Awards Dylan Shah (Adviser: Rebecca Kramer- The Marston Anderson Prize is awarded Bottiglio) on an occasional basis to truly outstanding Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science dissertations in the feld of East Asian Dylan is nominated for his contributions to the feld Languages and Literatures, in memory of of embodied intelligence and for his development Professor Anderson for his contribution to the of several robot platforms to study the role of intellectual and pedagogical mission of the morphology in adaptive behavior. His advisor states, department. “Dylan is developing functional material systems Po-hSi Chen (Adviser: Jing Tsu) that will allow next-generation sof robots to adapt East Asian Languages and Literatures to changing tasks and environments. His research is enabling new knowledge and design paradigms Socialism on One Island: A Genealogy of the to help solve broad challenges related to adaptive Pro-Unifcation Lefist Literary Discourse in physical systems, with applications to human- Taiwan robot interaction, collaborative robots, and assistive This dissertation on Taiwanese literature is the frst wearables.” in-depth investigation of the ambiguous relation between mainland China and Taiwan. It intersects several global and local themes that are seldom seen The Frances Blanshard Fellowship Prize is within the space of one study: Chinese diaspora awarded annually for the outstanding doctoral and Sinophone studies, Cold War, the plurality dissertations submitted to the History of Art of diferent Lefisms, and Taiwan’s independence Department. movement. It ofers an important perspective on the ariel Fein (Adviser: Robert Nelson) suppressed afnity between the PRC and Taiwan History of Art afer 1949. Emiral Patronage: George of Antioch, the Martorana, and the Arab-Christians of Norman Dewei Shen (Adviser: Mick Hunter) Sicily East Asian Languages and Literatures This dissertation gives us a new understanding The First Imperial Transition in China: A of a major monument
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